Prior to this invention it was very expensive to manufacture acceptable stator vane assemblies. As one skilled in the art will readily recognize the rejection rate of such was inordinately high. This was because no matter what extent of care and precision was exercised the joining of vanes to a shroud resulted in excess bulk and irregular geometry of braze buildup at most of the shroud-vane joints and along some airfoil surfaces of the vane that happened to be splattered with braze alloy.
It has been attempted to use immersion stripping in a chemical solution; but in order to protect the assembly in areas not having excess braze on it, expensive and time consuming masking was required. Furthermore as the solution and not the operator was in control of the removal, it was quite possible to damage the structural integrity of the assembly being immersed.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the subject invention to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art systems for obtaining a smooth airfoil contour for a plurality of vanes arranged about a ring. It is a further object of the invention to provide new and improved apparatus employed in a process of fabricating a shrouded vane assembly. Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawings.